Ozzy Osbourne reveals he thought he'd be dead at 40: 'It's getting closer to the f***ing end now'

Osbourne, who turned 70 last year, is recovering from a recent bout of pneumonia before he goes back on the road

Ozzy Osbourne says he has been “spooked” by the number of musicians who have died in recent years amid his recovery from a bout of pneumonia.

The Black Sabbath singer, who was forced to cancel a number of shows from his 2019 tour after suffering from an upper respiratory infection, told The Pulse of Radio (via Blabbermouth) that he was alive from “pure luck”.

“If you’d said to me years OK, ‘How long do you think you’ll last?’ I would’ve said, ‘I’ll be dead by 40!’” he commented. “If you’d read a news story that said, ‘Ozzy Osbourne has been found dead in his hotel room’ you wouldn’t go, ‘Oh really?’ would you? You’d say, ‘Well, obviously!’”

Osbourne added that turning 70 last December made him “really aware of the phenomenal change in the world” and admitted that he does think about dying: “It’s getting close to the f***ing end now.”

“It’s crazy what’s going on,” he said. “Everything’s sped up to a ridiculous level now. You can do more in one hour than you could in a week before. I do think that mankind is moving way too fast.”

His comments follow the recent death of guitarist Bernie Torme, a “gentle soul” who toured with Osbourne in the early Eighties.

Osbourne tweeted a message honouring the musician’s memory after the news of his death emerged, writing: “What a sad day. We’ve lost another great musician. Bernie was a gentle soul with a heart of gold. he will be dearly missed.”

Osbourne is scheduled to launch a North America tour at the Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma on 24 May.